Tuesday 7 December 2023

Number of people at Kamb Ice Stream Camp #3 (KIS3): maximum population of 27 people.

Number of tents at KIS3: 22 personal tents, 2 science tents, 1 drill tent, 2 ops tents

Number of hard-sided structures at KIS3: science warm store, living module, general shed

Distance as the crow/Basler flies to KIS3: 880 km

Distance to the nearest open water from KIS3: 480 km

Ice shelf thickness: 595m ±12m

Ocean cavity thickness: 50m

Tidal range: ±1.2m, 2.4m tidal range (CATS model vertical displacement)

Traverse route

The traverse is 1,138km long and relatively flat. A safe route has been planned via satellite imagery and GPR route-proving. We expect the traverse to the KIS3 drill site to take 14 days, barring any weather delays. The Traverse can continue moving where it is safe to do so in restricted visibility. If visibility is too poor (with blowing snow) the group will have to stop until conditions improve.

The SWAIS2C convoy consists of 3 Pisten Bully 300s pulling sled and a living module. Pisten Bully 300s are vehicles that have tracks rather than wheels. They are able to move/push snow, groom skiways, and pull up to 50 tonnes of cargo each. Two of the Piston Bully 300s on this traverse have cranes on the back for moving heavy cargo on and off sleds.

Six Antarctica New Zealand staff are participating in the convoy.

Time needed to make a hot water hole: 48 to 72 hours (approximately)
Amount of hot water used: As an educated guess (with an assumed bore hole diameter of 350mm and total ice thickness of 600m), we will start with 12,000 litres seed water. Then it will take around 72,000 litres to get the well in, then the main bore hole will take another 57,730 litres. So, in total, approximately 130,930 litres

Speed of the hot water drill: At maximum we can pump 180 litres per minute, but nominally we sit around 100 litres per minute. However, once we have the well pump installed, we return water to the surface, so the volume of water roughly equals the volume of ice drilled.

Temperature of water when it exits the hot water drill nozzle: This depends on what depth we are at. At the surface water temp at the manifold (the last location we measure it before the main hose and reel) the temperature is approximately 70-75deg C. We have never measured water temperature in real time down hole while drilling, so we don’t know how much heat is lost in the hose before it gets to the nozzle. We are measuring this info this year so will have a closer approximation.